Elden Ring: New Fromsoft rpg

[Meteor_of_War]

I just put away the first main story boss that gave me so much trouble before, first attempt. Vagabond is the starting build for any future games for me

Also, get a weapon that inflicts bleed. Confirmed it helps a lot, really OP.

I feel like I actually have a solid, viable build now, can also tank hits from most enemies

I think I might be at that boss now Margit the Fell?

With use of the wolf spirit ashes I think its doable at my current level, but I am still massively struggling with the controls. Its just the damn L3 button. I cannot for the life of me avoid accidentally clicking it when just moving around.

I did change the button assignment from crouch to jump, which definitely helps, but I am still jumping unintentionally which is getting me hit a lot. I wish we could just un-assign the button completely but the game doesn't allow it. Its just making things unnecessarily more difficult than they need to be.

[Silent-Runner]

I just put away the first main story boss that gave me so much trouble before, first attempt. Vagabond is the starting build for any future games for me

Also, get a weapon that inflicts bleed. Confirmed it helps a lot, really OP.

I feel like I actually have a solid, viable build now, can also tank hits from most enemies

Yes, bleeding is way op, but don't get overconfident, because it still is the best way to get stomped badly Oh, and getting swarmed too, of course.

So far loving it. Like, really. So much so see and find, hidden doors/pathways, loot, really crazy mobs and simply beautiful scenery.

[Tyr-Sog]

I normally play a pure mage so naturally I went with an astrologer. Seemed a little squishy and I found I was running out of mana quickly.
So I'd substitute magic with melee. Melee with the astrologer was meh so I decided to start a prisoner.
I'm doing better with him. Stomp is nice and setting up the magic swords which are delayed can have advantages.

So far I beat 2 bosses and that was before figuring out how to level up lol.
Tree Sentinel is still kicking my butt though.

Overall I'm liking this a lot more than the souls games.
It's a little easier being wide open and spawn points everywhere.

[koralis]

Others might disagree, but Elden Ring is super easy. You’ll love it.








j/k

Started an old-fart Hero looking to reclaim his former glory. Still getting used to guarding, dodging, etc. Keep hitting keys to attack and instead i stand there like a fool drinking a portion or something. Really don't like that setup after playing Nioh. Arg!

[Meteor_of_War]

The current player count is insane, sony left a lot of money on the table by not porting bloodborne.







Also, I do not like the way they introduced the level up lady, I spent hours at level 1 since I never fulfilled the requirement of resting three times at the bonfire.

Oh is that how it worked? She appeared to me at the stormgate grace and i wasnt sure if something triggered it or it had to be that spot. I also wondered for a while holding a bunch of runes how to level up.

And yeah, i definitely would have bought Bloodborne on PC. Just for the reason that my main issue with that game on console was the nauseating low framerate which ultimately made me quit it. Would have enjoyed it much more at 60 fps.

[Meteor_of_War]

Started an old-fart Hero looking to reclaim his former glory. Still getting used to guarding, dodging, etc. Keep hitting keys to attack and instead i stand there like a fool drinking a portion or something. Really don't like that setup after playing Nioh. Arg!

I managed to avoid that control issue since i changed the control scheme to use R1 for attacks in Nioh. I don't think I'll ever be able to play a souls-like without having attacks set to R1/R2.

[Seyiji]

[yt]5EtcrUrsl38[/yt]

This is probably going to help those with massive stutters.

If it's the same patch ACG gai was talking about a day or so ago then it may make the game perform worse !__!

[switchAMG]

I switched back to Vagabond and getting parry/rolling sorted.

Not sure if its been discussed and forgive the noob -- I am using controller, you pc guys using that or k/m?

[Drexion]

If it's the same patch ACG gai was talking about

Another patch (1.02.1) released a few hours ago, which has reportedly helped some with the stutters.

I switched back to Vagabond and getting parry/rolling sorted.

Not sure if its been discussed and forgive the noob -- I am using controller, you pc guys using that or k/m?

With vagabond all you have to do is unequip the secondary weapon (a halberd) you start with to fix the fat roll. FROM shouldn't have left a second weapon on a starting class like that which pushed you past the limit - or better yet secondary items shouldn't contribute to 'weight'.

95%+ of Soulsborne players, even on pc, play using a controller. I think some of the older Souls games still don't even work right with a kb/m without mods. Japanese devs were not big on the PC platform back then, and most still are inexperienced with it nowadays.

[Lazy8s]

I think I might be at that boss now Margit the Fell?

With use of the wolf spirit ashes I think its doable at my current level, but I am still massively struggling with the controls. Its just the damn L3 button. I cannot for the life of me avoid accidentally clicking it when just moving around.

I did change the button assignment from crouch to jump, which definitely helps, but I am still jumping unintentionally which is getting me hit a lot. I wish we could just un-assign the button completely but the game doesn't allow it. Its just making things unnecessarily more difficult than they need to be.

Yeah that’s the boss that gave me so much grief and I do blame the controls

Being able to assign / unassign as needed would be great. Let me know what you think of that guy.

I did find out something really neat that confirms From made him tougher than required. Click below after you beat him, or if he gives you as much grief as he did me.

I found out he’s optional

[Lazy8s]

Started an old-fart Hero looking to reclaim his former glory. Still getting used to guarding, dodging, etc. Keep hitting keys to attack and instead i stand there like a fool drinking a portion or something. Really don't like that setup after playing Nioh. Arg!

Nioh muscle memory has been devastating for me lol.

[Lazy8s]

I switched back to Vagabond and getting parry/rolling sorted.

Not sure if its been discussed and forgive the noob -- I am using controller, you pc guys using that or k/m?

Controller is much easier for me.

[Meteor_of_War]

Yeah that?s the boss that gave me so much grief and I do blame the controls



Being able to assign / unassign as needed would be great. Let me know what you think of that guy.



I did find out something really neat that confirms From made him tougher than required. Click below after you beat him, or if he gives you as much grief as he did me.



I found out he?s optional

I think the controls are a legitimate complaint right now, at least for us veteran Nioh players. I know I'll get adjusted, but it hasn't been easy so far. Hard to undo all the practice from that other game series (which i do still believe has superior combat i might add).

Anyways it's not too bad in my case, just the damn L3 button.

As for that boss, only tried a handful of times so far and IMO he's not too bad. I figured out that jump attacks if in quick enough succession will stagger him for a critical. Got him down to about half health but on the 2nd phase he goes pretty HAM with relentless attacks and i haven't figured that out yet. Maybe by later tonight.

[Lazy8s]

I think the controls are a legitimate complaint right now, at least for us veteran Nioh players. I know I'll get adjusted, but it hasn't been easy so far. Hard to undo all the practice from that other game series (which i do still believe has superior combat i might add).

Anyways it's not too bad in my case, just the damn L3 button.

As for that boss, only tried a handful of times so far and IMO he's not too bad. I figured out that jump attacks if in quick enough succession will stagger him for a critical. Got him down to about half health but on the 2nd phase he goes pretty HAM with relentless attacks and i haven't figured that out yet. Maybe by later tonight.

One thing I found out is that Fromsoft followed TNs lead on combat aggression. Not giving that dude time to breath

You can also parry him if you haven’t tried yet. It depends on enemy type obviously, but so far bosses that use weapons seem to be able to be parried.

[Meteor_of_War]

One thing I found out is that Fromsoft followed TNs lead on combat aggression. Not giving that dude time to breath



You can also parry him if you haven?t tried yet. It depends on enemy type obviously, but so far bosses that use weapons seem to be able to be parried.

Oh yes, i have been trying to parry everything i can, when not fighting on horseback that is. Working to get the timing down now before enemies start getting really tough.

The parry timing feels similar to how i remember it in Dark Souls 3. Been a while though so I'm rusty as hell. That new counter attack move with R2 has been pretty useful too, when it actually reaches the enemy.

[Lazy8s]

I’m at the 2nd main boss. Anyone else whose been here please post your thoughts on it?

As far as I’m concerned, it’s one of the worst boss designs I’ve seen in a long, long time. It isn’t that it’s tough to beat, that’s expected. Have no problems with tough. This is just bad. Nothing good to say about it at all.

[shrike126]

I just learned about blocking with a shield and then immediately hitting R2 (it's R1 for me because I swap trigger/bumper) and HLY ****!

Without spoiling anything, I guess I'm a bit surprised that they put in a way to just go around the first big boss. Makes it easier to get an invite to the place thingy.

[Drexion]

I just learned about blocking with a shield and then immediately hitting R2

You skipped the tutorial area at the start? They definitely teach you that in there. But yeah it's insanely useful against some mobs, in fact using it sometimes feels overpowered. I'm fairly early on though, don't know how well it will scale going into mid or end game.

[shrike126]

You skipped the tutorial area at the start? They definitely teach you that in there. But yeah it's insanely useful against some mobs, in fact using it sometimes feels overpowered. I'm fairly early on though, don't know how well it will scale going into mid or end game.

I missed the couple of tries and didn't bother with it again because I kept hitting R1 not R2 (I swapped trigger-bumper) and couldn't get it to work in the Tutorial area.

Just a bit ago I landed it on accident and had a lightbulb moment. It's awesome. Not enough iframes on the animation though I think. If there's a few guys around it isn't great.

[mizzer]

I bit the bullet and uninstalled vJoy so my controller would work.
Wow! This game is tight!

[Lazy8s]

So…I’m actually a bit lost. I know to follow the grace trails but I seem to have come to a dead end. I actually love that I have to remember to look over cliff sides everywhere for drop offs that lead to some good areas, and I “found” one near one of the chest traps - not the one at the start - but there’s tons of upgrade materials everywhere.

Also still have a lot of moments> surprise bosses showing up when you see nothing around that says there’s a boss.

I also found a really powerful sorcery staff. Was really happy to have the wolves tagging along for that one, huge mob and a mini boss. Fun though.

Not sure what my next move is. I think I’ll hunt map fragments. Lots of lost graces found in areas I don’t have the fragments for yet, and maybe level up a bit more. It’s been tough going since the 2nd boss lol.

[Meteor_of_War]

I gave that boss Margit a few more tries and yeah, he's too tough. For my current level right now anyways (20). I get him down below 50% health regularly but at that point he just wrecks me. I've been using the wolves spirits too. They just don't stay alive very long against him to do much help except for a short distraction.

So now I am exploring around this new castle area and working on leveling. I really like the ashes of war abilities they added in this game. Most of them easily double my attack damage on a landed hit. Also like that different weapons come with different innate skills. I was wondering if there was a kick move like in previous Souls games and turns out its an ability on certain weapons. I've only scratched the surface really but I can tell it adds a bit more depth to your play style choices.

Definitely enjoying the game a lot. Haven't really been put off by anything yet, and I've got that great feeling to keep playing for long periods of time (which I don't have). I will say though the more I explore, the more I am experiencing those annoying stutter / framerate drops. I just watched the new Digital Foundry video on this, and yeah the game has a real issue with stutter during asset loading. Its not terrible for me, probably because I have the game installed on a fast NVMe drive, but its definitely noticeable. Turned on the fps counter and I am seeing dips as low as 30 fps for a second or two and even saw once or twice where the game just froze for a good couple seconds. Hope they fix that soon.

[eNforcer]

I just beat Margit finally, at level 30 Astrologer. No wolves or summons used. I think this boss is the way he is to teach that you can't dodge-spam everything because of enemy combos. It's all timing.

Can watch it here if interested

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZCK8rLW1AQ

[Lazy8s]

I just beat Margit finally, at level 30 Astrologer. No wolves or summons used. I think this boss is the way he is to teach that you can't dodge-spam everything because of enemy combos. It's all timing.

Can watch it here if interested
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZCK8rLW1AQ

I left you a thumbs up on the video Nice job. Fights like that make me feel like I made the right decision going after sorcery.

I found out after that I didn’t even have to fight him to progress but I would have missed a lot if I didn’t.

[Lazy8s]

I gave that boss Margit a few more tries and yeah, he's too tough. For my current level right now anyways (20). I get him down below 50% health regularly but at that point he just wrecks me. I've been using the wolves spirits too. They just don't stay alive very long against him to do much help except for a short distraction.

So now I am exploring around this new castle area and working on leveling. I really like the ashes of war abilities they added in this game. Most of them easily double my attack damage on a landed hit. Also like that different weapons come with different innate skills. I was wondering if there was a kick move like in previous Souls games and turns out its an ability on certain weapons. I've only scratched the surface really but I can tell it adds a bit more depth to your play style choices.

Definitely enjoying the game a lot. Haven't really been put off by anything yet, and I've got that great feeling to keep playing for long periods of time (which I don't have). I will say though the more I explore, the more I am experiencing those annoying stutter / framerate drops. I just watched the new Digital Foundry video on this, and yeah the game has a real issue with stutter during asset loading. Its not terrible for me, probably because I have the game installed on a fast NVMe drive, but its definitely noticeable. Turned on the fps counter and I am seeing dips as low as 30 fps for a second or two and even saw once or twice where the game just froze for a good couple seconds. Hope they fix that soon.

I had that stutter and an actual 2-3 second freeze last night. It almost cost me a boss fight. I have it on a fast NVMe drive also, and I hope they can patch that out eventually. Aside from a certain boss design, it’s my only real gripe with the game.

[Silent-Runner]

Godrick the Grafted gave me a hard time at first, but he's easily doable after you get his moveset down. As many others, he's way easier to beat with a ranged char.

[Lazy8s]

Godrick the Grafted gave me a hard time at first, but he's easily doable after you get his moveset down. As many others, he's way easier to beat with a ranged char.

He took me 3 tries, so not too bad. I still hate that fight design though.

I don’t know if he glitched or what, but 1st attempt he literally just jumped non stop and spammed his AOE attacks, literally non stop. 2nd and 3rd tries were his regular routine and not too hard.

Oh yeah, and those Burger King mofos - wtf

[koralis]

The thing about Art of Wars only being usable without something in your left hand is bullshit (shields specifically, but I imagine it applies to dual wielding also?) Would have taken little effort to let you select what happens with the LT button from available options as Nioh does.

Still of the opinion that most bosses (even mini bosses) are overpowered. I'm not a fan of the principle of getting hit = death, and guarding with a shield seems pointless for anything but rabble as you're still taking a ton of damage. (bear, watchdog, cavalry, etc, etc)

That said, downed the pumpkin (no, he isn't an example of the one hit death principle above), so maybe sorceries will help out to keep some range.

[Drexion]

I gave that boss Margit a few more tries and yeah, he's too tough.

His second phase is a bloodborne boss in a souls game, making it an extremely difficult fight unless you're a spellcaster. (arguably the toughest boss in the game for pure melee characters). His second phase animations are bloodborne paced, the slower paced souls character you're playing will not be able to use iframe rolls to evade his second phase combos completely. Your positioning will have to be pixel perfect if you're trying to use iframes to avoid his second phase combos, there is luck involved so it's not realistic to maintain for the entire fight.

If you're playing pure melee and don't want to use summons, then during the second phase you'll have to keep distance and only swing once on an opening then keep distance again. I read that the leaping attack can affect his poise meter, and possibly interrupt him though I haven't tested it.

The summary of what I've read on reddit is that if you can beat him as pure melee, you'll have no trouble with anything else for the rest of the game. Like Father Gascoigne on steroids except that was a way easier fight as your character was "bloodborne speed".

Similarly to Father Gascoigne, regarding this Elden Ring boss there is an item you can purchase from a character in a dungeon that works like the bloodborne music box, stuns him for a few seconds, though I read its quite clunky to use

[Lazy8s]

The thing about Art of Wars only being usable without something in your left hand is bullshit (shields specifically, but I imagine it applies to dual wielding also?) Would have taken little effort to let you select what happens with the LT button from available options as Nioh does.

Still of the opinion that most bosses (even mini bosses) are overpowered. I'm not a fan of the principle of getting hit = death, and guarding with a shield seems pointless for anything but rabble as you're still taking a ton of damage.

That said, downed the pumpkin (no, he isn't an example of the one hit death principle above), so maybe sorceries will help out to keep some range.

I stumbled across an article about how they set up the controls and what you can use when…Fromsoft actually ran into trouble deciding just how many actions they could work into the control scheme, like using 2 buttons to 2 hand your weapon.

What I would love to see them patch in is a Returnal type control scheme. they programmed L2 and R2 on the dual sense controllers (not sure about X box) where you felt like you were hitting a stop when you pressed the trigger halfway, and that did one function. Pull the rest of the way for another function, and it worked perfectly.

Regarding the shield use, there’s a reason to use it besides blocking. It provides a really powerful counter that does massive damage to most enemies. Block followed by an immediate R2.

One thing I do appreciate is the flask refilling mechanic. It makes it so much easier to explore larger areas without sitting at a grace site.

[Lazy8s]

His second phase is a bloodborne boss in a souls game, making it an extremely difficult fight unless you're a spellcaster. (arguably the toughest boss in the game for pure melee characters). His second phase animations are bloodborne paced, the slower paced souls character you're playing will not be able to use iframe rolls to evade his second phase combos completely. Your positioning will have to be pixel perfect if you're trying to use iframes to avoid his second phase combos, there is luck involved so it's not realistic to maintain for the entire fight.

If you're playing pure melee and don't want to use summons, then during the second phase you'll have to keep distance and only swing once on an opening then keep distance again. I read that the leaping attack can affect his poise meter, and possibly interrupt him though I haven't tested it.

The summary of what I've read on reddit is that if you can beat him as pure melee, you'll have no trouble with anything else for the rest of the game. Like Father Gascoigne on steroids except that was a way easier fight as your character was "bloodborne speed".

Similarly to Father Gascoigne, regarding this Elden Ring boss there is an item you can purchase from a character in a dungeon that works like the bloodborne music box, stuns him for a few seconds, though I read its quite clunky to use

Although I used a combination of ranged and melee, the shield block counter and parries are super effective at breaking his poise. 1 or 2 of either stuns him, and his tells are super easy to read.

That said, he’s certainly not a boss for someone just following the main story without leveling a lot.

He’s also optional at the point in the game. You don’t have to fight him to progress quite a bit

[koralis]

I stumbled across an article about how they set up the controls and what you can use when…Fromsoft actually ran into trouble deciding just how many actions they could work into the control scheme, like using 2 buttons to 2 hand your weapon.

What I would love to see them patch in is a Returnal type control scheme. they programmed L2 and R2 on the dual sense controllers (not sure about X box) where you felt like you were hitting a stop when you pressed the trigger halfway, and that did one function. Pull the rest of the way for another function, and it worked perfectly.

That could work, but even easier for them to simply allow you to disable skills off for this particular issue. I went back to a guard-filled area to practice combat (previously I was doing stealth to slaughter them all) and looted a Brass shield. More damage prevention than the tower shield that I got from the same area that I was using before, AND "No Skill." This shield actually allows me to use the Art of War I have on my battle axe.

(also picked up a named spear that I didn't care for the moveset and reduced damage on.)

Regarding the shield use, there’s a reason to use it besides blocking. It provides a really powerful counter that does massive damage to most enemies. Block followed by an immediate R2.

Does it work on bosses? In my experience it wasn't... I was just getting flattened. Works great on rabble as I mentioned though. That's what I was practicing and indeed, have gotten better at the shield use. The blocking takes longer to engage than I was initially thinking, it doesn't seem to be able to use reactively.

None of that practice seems to apply to bosses who flail wildly, jump/stomp like mad, etc. The strategy there seems to be simply "Stay out of the way" and "dodge/roll with perfect timing" for 10 seconds to wait for a small opening.

Single dodges are one thing, but I find the chain dodging tedious and unfun.

One thing I do appreciate is the flask refilling mechanic. It makes it so much easier to explore larger areas without sitting at a grace site.

The taking out a whole group thing? Or is there something else I should know about?




While im commenting... there was a cave in valley where I got notified of an invasion 3 times I approached it. Was that another actual player, or the game simulating another player. If it was a one-off I'd be inclined to say a player.. the repeats make me wonder. Seemed to happen even after I turned off the networking/multiplayer. Anyone else have any experience with that?

[Meteor_of_War]

His second phase is a bloodborne boss in a souls game, making it an extremely difficult fight unless you're a spellcaster. (arguably the toughest boss in the game for pure melee characters). His second phase animations are bloodborne paced, the slower paced souls character you're playing will not be able to use iframe rolls to evade his second phase combos completely. Your positioning will have to be pixel perfect if you're trying to use iframes to avoid his second phase combos, there is luck involved so it's not realistic to maintain for the entire fight.

If you're playing pure melee and don't want to use summons, then during the second phase you'll have to keep distance and only swing once on an opening then keep distance again. I read that the leaping attack can affect his poise meter, and possibly interrupt him though I haven't tested it.

The summary of what I've read on reddit is that if you can beat him as pure melee, you'll have no trouble with anything else for the rest of the game. Like Father Gascoigne on steroids except that was a way easier fight as your character was "bloodborne speed".

Similarly to Father Gascoigne, regarding this Elden Ring boss there is an item you can purchase from a character in a dungeon that works like the bloodborne music box, stuns him for a few seconds, though I read its quite clunky to use

I just beat him little while ago this morning. Decided I was too low a level (20, with a +1 greatsword) so leveled up to 25 (points into HP, stamina, and STR) and upgraded my sword to +2.

What really did help immensely though was I used the noble sorcerer ashes that I found, dropped from a boss near the start of the game. As you pointed out, ranged attacks are the way to go with this boss. I fought him 1 on 1 up to his second phase, then summoned the spirit ashes for the final part.

I think he's totally beatable with a pure melee build, just need to level up a bit. The more you increase your HP and stamina the easier this fight will be. Not saying you can just tank him, but it will become gradually easier as you level (much like most things in Souls games).

Also, he's really easy to stagger with a few quick jumping attacks, and he can be parried. Think I did that a total of 5 times in the fight. Although parrying him I found to be a bit flaky. Sometimes when I would parry him, the lock on indicator would change from white to red but I could not riposte for some reason. Not sure why so I ended up abandoning that strategy for him.

Oh yeah, and after beating him I watched a video on someone else and noticed there was a summon sign for another sorcerer right outside the boss room. Had I also used that summon the fight would have been even easier.

[Meteor_of_War]

I went back to a guard-filled area to practice combat (previously I was doing stealth to slaughter them all) and looted a Brass shield. More damage prevention than the tower shield that I got from the same area that I was using before, AND "No Skill." This shield actually allows me to use the Art of War I have on my battle axe.

I decided to use that same shield once I realized I could not consistently use parrying against Margit. The extra damage prevention plus being able to use my sword skill while still holding the shield really helps.

[Lazy8s]

That could work, but even easier for them to simply allow you to disable skills off for this particular issue. I went back to a guard-filled area to practice combat (previously I was doing stealth to slaughter them all) and looted a Brass shield. More damage prevention than the tower shield that I got from the same area that I was using before, AND "No Skill." This shield actually allows me to use the Art of War I have on my battle axe.

(also picked up a named spear that I didn't care for the moveset and reduced damage on.)

I wish they would let us disable commands Now I just swap it out before a boss fight with a button I don’t use.

Does it work on bosses? In my experience it wasn't... I was just getting flattened. Works great on rabble as I mentioned though. That's what I was practicing and indeed, have gotten better at the shield use. The blocking takes longer to engage than I was initially thinking, it doesn't seem to be able to use reactively.

None of that practice seems to apply to bosses who flail wildly, jump/stomp like mad, etc. The strategy there seems to be simply "Stay out of the way" and "dodge/roll with perfect timing" for 10 seconds to wait for a small opening.

Single dodges are one thing, but I find the chain dodging tedious and unfun.

It does work on bosses, but like Meteor said it can be a bit flakey. I found that if I’m not perfectly positioned during the r2 it just misses and I get punished. And if there’s a mob I’ll usually get dead angled too.

The taking out a whole group thing? Or is there something else I should know about?

Nope, that’s the one. Comes in super handy later.

While im commenting... there was a cave in valley where I got notified of an invasion 3 times I approached it. Was that another actual player, or the game simulating another player. If it was a one-off I'd be inclined to say a player.. the repeats make me wonder. Seemed to happen even after I turned off the networking/multiplayer. Anyone else have any experience with that?

Yes, there are NPC invaders. The 1 you’re talking about wasn’t bad for me, but I had a harder time with one near a colosseum - AOE spamming little punk

I don’t mind AOE attacks as a rule, but I fully agree with you on enemies that spam them and you just have to roll until you’re either safe or your stamina is tanked. I’ve run across that a few times, including humanoid enemies that can just continually spam r1 at you, and 1 shot if I missed the parry. Not a fan of that at all.

[Lazy8s]

The game just lost me for a while. Fromsoft did one of the things I hate most, and it’s just needless in a game like this. Boss related.

Time to level more, relax, suck it up and get past this.

[Drexion]

there was a summon sign for another sorcerer right outside the boss room. Had I also used that summon the fight would have been even easier.

I read on the sub that this is not recommended as the boss gets a 50% health bonus and the summon dies too soon after dealing little damage, leaving you alone with a high hp boss to deal with.
Not sure if this is accurate info though.

The game just lost me for a while. Fromsoft did one of the things I hate most, and it’s just needless in a game like this. Boss related.

Yep, while it's an amazing masterpiece of an open world game it's still a Souls game at heart and comes with some of the annoyances of previous titles in the series.

[Meteor_of_War]

It does work on bosses, but like Meteor said it can be a bit flakey. I found that if I’m not perfectly positioned during the r2 it just misses and I get punished. And if there’s a mob I’ll usually get dead angled too.

To be clear I was talking about parrying, and specifically against Margit. I swear I would get off a clean parry, he would make the gesture like being stunned and the lock on indicator would turn red but I could not riposte.

As for counter attacks with R2, they are great. But, yeah sometimes against tough enemies like that boss he would just hyper armor through it and I'd take a huge it. It would be much more useful against enemies that it would guarantee to stagger.

[Meteor_of_War]

I read on the sub that this is not recommended as the boss gets a 50% health bonus and the summon dies too soon after dealing little damage, leaving you alone with a high hp boss to deal with.
Not sure if this is accurate info though.

I don't know for sure, but I do remember From Soft doing that with past games. Might have just been with human summons though.

[Lazy8s]

I read on the sub that this is not recommended as the boss gets a 50% health bonus and the summon dies too soon after dealing little damage, leaving you alone with a high hp boss to deal with.
Not sure if this is accurate info though.

Yep, while it's an amazing masterpiece of an open world game it's still a Souls game at heart and comes with some of the annoyances of previous titles in the series.

Yep. the game is incredible, and stands on it’s own merits of exploration and that “Difficult, but fair and doable” combat.

What they did here just falls into the “Why?” Category for me. It’s an unnecessary ‘layer’ that the game didn’t need.